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Kim Jong-nam, the eldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, spent Monday locked in his room in the Kempinski Hotel on Dongsanhuan Road in Bejing, across the road from the South Korean Embassy. North Korean officials in Beijing commented that Kim stays at the Kunlun or Kempinski Hotel whenever he visits the Chinese capital. The Kunlun Hotel is across Dongsanhuan Road to the west of the South Korean Embassy.
North Korean officials said Kim junior is unrestrained but likes spending time alone. He usually stays in Beijing for three or four days for some shopping at department stores or rest in his hotel room, according to North Korean sources. Officials with the South Korean Embassy in Beijing said Kim does not appear to need bodyguards since he was struck from the list of potential successors to his father¡¯s mantle. Junior Kim once had a dacha in the Shunyi District near Beijing¡¯s airport but reportedly sold it.
Kim Jong-nam arrived in Beijing from Macau by direct flight on Sunday. He reportedly plans to fly to Pyongyang on North Korea¡¯s Koryo Air at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday to celebrate his father¡¯s 64th birthday on Friday. He spoke in English to a reporter from Japanese broadcaster Fuji TV at a shopping center in Beijing on Sunday evening, where Kim said he meets his father occasionally and freely visits North Korea. He declined to elaborate on his relationship with his father.
Kim said he was aware of ongoing six-party talks on North Korea¡¯s nuclear program in Beijing but had no personal interest in the issue. Praised for his fluent English speaking skill, Kim said he speaks English and some French because he studied in Europe. Fuji TV said the black Mercedes Benz Kim uses in Beijing is registered in the name of his wife Shin Jong-hi.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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